Abstract:

【Abstract】Objective  To investigate whether circDUSP16 can be used as a potential biomarker to predict the efficacy and prognosis of adjuvant chemotherapy for resectable gastric cancer (GC). Methods Serum samples were collected from 226 GC patients who underwent radical gastrectomy in our hospital from January 2017 to May 2021. In addition, the serum samples of 209 healthy people in our hospital were selected as control. The expression level of circDUSP16 in serum was detected by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Patients with recurrence or metastasis within 6 months after the end of chemotherapy were included in the chemotherapy insensitive group, while others were included in the chemotherapy sensitive group. Results Serum circDUSP16 level in GC group was significantly higher than that in non-cancer control group (P＜0.001). The area under ROC curve (AUC) of serum circDUSP16 for GC diagnosis was 0.874 (95%CI: 0.843-0.906). 95 patients (42.0%) with GC relapsed within 6 months after the end of chemotherapy. The expression level of circDUSP16 in serum of chemotherapy insensitive group was significantly higher than that of chemotherapy sensitive group (P＜0.001). The AUC of serum circDUSP16 predicted chemotherapy sensitivity was 0.898 (95%CI: 0.854-0.941), and the specificity and sensitivity were 89.8% and 80.8%, respectively, at the optimal cut-off value of 1.870. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that serum circDUSP16 was an independent factor for chemotherapy sensitivity in GC patients (P＜0.001). According to the median value of circDUSP16 in serum of GC patients, the patients were divided into low expression group (< 1.64) and high expression group (≥1.64). The overall survival rate of baseline GC patients in the low and high circDUSP16 expression groups was 69.9% and 14.2%, respectively, and the median OS stage was longer in the low expression group (P＜0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional regression analysis showed that serum circDUSP16 was an independent prognostic factor for GC patients (P＜0.001). Conclusion High serum circDUSP16 expression was associated with drug resistance and poor survival prognosis of GC adjuvant chemotherapy, which is promising as a potential predictor of GC adjuvant chemotherapy efficacy and poor prognosis.

Key words: Resected gastric cancer, Serum circDUSP16, Adjuvant chemotherapy, Prognosis